Public Statements

Gardner: BLM and Salazar Have Some Explaining to Do

Press Release

Congressman Cory Gardner (R-CO) is questioning the extent to which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering the feedback of oil and gas producing states in its attempt to create federal regulations for hydraulic fracturing. While the BLM claims to have sought feedback from a wide range of sources, including state governments, Gardner's office has been told a different story.

"We have heard from several interested parties that BLM did not listen to the feedback from oil and gas producing states," Gardner wrote in a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, whose department ultimately has authority over the BLM.

In Gardner's letter, he asks Salazar to provide more details on which oil and gas producing states were consulted and how the feedback those states provided shaped the proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing. Gardner also calls BLM's cost benefit analysis into question, given that its numbers vary significantly from a more in-depth study done by Western Energy Alliance.